Midwest US here with knowledge of the southern coast: Every house I know of except one has a wood frame. Some multifamily buildings are concrete block, but even brick is just brick siding on a wooden frame. For a few years there was a trend for steel frame but that was found to be very impractical because beams that small react to temperature changes so drastically even in a temperature controlled building. Wood is much more stable.

Most brick homes in Australia are also wooden framed but Western Australia seems to still do old-school double-brick.

Online money transfer between bank is done via cheque – In USA (at least in PA), whenever I want to transfer money to someone, the bank will issue a cheque and post it to the address of the cheque recipient. The recipient will then cash in the cheque. This procedure will take few days normally and applies even to customers who transfer money to another customers within the same bank.

In some areas of Australia, weatherboard houses are fairly common. My hometown in NSW, for example.

Fibro was also a common building material at one time, unfortunately. It's asbestos cement sheeting.

Stilt houses were also traditional in Darwin, NT, although not in the queenslander style. Building codes were changed after a devastating cyclone, cyclone Tracy, wiped out most of Darwin. A lot of the newer buildings were made of cement.

Online money transfer between bank is done via cheque – In USA (at least in PA), whenever I want to transfer money to someone, the bank will issue a cheque and post it to the address of the cheque recipient. The recipient will then cash in the cheque. This procedure will take few days normally and applies even to customers who transfer money to another customers within the same bank.

Is this one true? That is NUTS!

That's not how it works for everyone. I can transfer money purely electronically through my bank. I've not had to wait for someone to receive a check for the amount I sent online. Chase definitely lets you send account to account payments.

Hmm. Its not quite that simple in Australia - every vehicle is registered to an owner, and there's got to be at least a mailing address. Also, we have mandatory insurance too - in my state its called a Green Slip, and it covers third party injury but not third party property damage.Whether tourists here simply don't bother and don't get caught, I don't know. I mean, technically nothing is stopping you from buying a car privately at a backpacker market and just don't completing the paperwork. If the registered owner is no longer in the country nothing will likely come back to them over it - especially if they can prove that the car was sold.

In Texas you have to have your insurance card to get your car inspected and to register it.

At least in the Houston/Harris County/Fort Bend/Richmond/Rosenburg area you CANNOT drive a week without a cop car pulling behind you and running your plates - and pulling you over for not being registered. Which is a real pain in the rear when you have insurance, did register (granted at the end of the window) but Harris County had a 45 day back up on getting people in the #*(Q#@*Q@*$@! state computer.

Which meant after the 10 day grace period - I spent 5 weeks being pulled over multiple times, even was accused of forging my window sticker because the computer said my car was not registered. A couple of times the cops in Fort Bend County were really confused because Harris County lets you pay at the grocery store so I had a Kroger Receipt attached to the paper work.

I go to the court annex now - and get registered for 2 or 3 years. I do it the first Weekday in July (My registration is due July 31st) that they are open.

You're not required to eat the whole thing right there in the restaurant.

That's another thing that boggled a brain or two, that you can get part of your meal wrapped to go home with you. On the other hand, my brain is slightly boggled that other countries don't do that. Sure, the portions are much smaller, but what if you aren't feeling well or the appetizer was more filling than you expected?

Tough. You don't finish your meal.

Why waste the food? I go to a restaurant, get something yummy, but it's too much to eat in one sitting. No problem! It's lunch tomorrow! If I just leave it, it's landfill.

Logged

What part of v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}} don't you understand? It's only rocket science!

"The problem with re-examining your brilliant ideas is that more often than not, you discover they are the intellectual equivalent of saying, 'Hold my beer and watch this!'" - Cindy Couture

People have sued restaurants as they've taken he stuff home and no refrigerated and/or reheated it properly, then get food poisoning and blame the place. So, it's just easier to take it to the kitchen.

Also, having the box it up option requires the restaurant to actually have take away boxes, which a lot don't have.

But there are places that do that. DH and I went to hurricanes grill with my Dad, I ordered ribs and my dad took the rest if my ribs home as I couldn't eat them.

A lot of ordinary suburban restaurants in Canberra will bag up leftover food if requested. I've only run across a couple that said they wouldn't. I remember that one blamed the local laws (which wasn't true when I checked up on it later). Think it's more to do with restaurant policy, concerns a about food safety and fear of being sued.

People have sued restaurants as they've taken he stuff home and no refrigerated and/or reheated it properly, then get food poisoning and blame the place. So, it's just easier to take it to the kitchen.

Also, having the box it up option requires the restaurant to actually have take away boxes, which a lot don't have.

But there are places that do that. DH and I went to hurricanes grill with my Dad, I ordered ribs and my dad took the rest if my ribs home as I couldn't eat them.

I've been in situations here that the entree was way to much but I wasn't going home or home was 30 min - 1 hour away. When I refuse to get a box I get the waiter asking if there was a problem, the host/hostess asking if there was a problem, and then the manger showing up and asking if there was a problem.

The food was great - it just won't be great after I stop to run errands on the way home and have to leave the food in the car in the Texas heat.

People have sued restaurants as they've taken he stuff home and no refrigerated and/or reheated it properly, then get food poisoning and blame the place. So, it's just easier to take it to the kitchen.

And here I thought the US was supposed to be the land of the frivolous lawsuit.

Logged

What part of v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}} don't you understand? It's only rocket science!

"The problem with re-examining your brilliant ideas is that more often than not, you discover they are the intellectual equivalent of saying, 'Hold my beer and watch this!'" - Cindy Couture

You're not required to eat the whole thing right there in the restaurant.

That's another thing that boggled a brain or two, that you can get part of your meal wrapped to go home with you. On the other hand, my brain is slightly boggled that other countries don't do that. Sure, the portions are much smaller, but what if you aren't feeling well or the appetizer was more filling than you expected?

Tough. You don't finish your meal.

Why waste the food? I go to a restaurant, get something yummy, but it's too much to eat in one sitting. No problem! It's lunch tomorrow! If I just leave it, it's landfill.

Or the restaurants could just serve proper portion sizes in the first place. I don't get it. I've just been browsing the menu at Denny's, which was the first US chain that occurred to me off the top of my head. The portion sizes are monstrous and there isn't a single vegetable to be seen, and it really isn't the kind of stuff that would reheat well or even be easy to box up and take home.

The breakfasts in particular grabbed my attention. Do people really eat a 13oz T-bone steak plus eggs, hash browns and toast for breakfast?!

Or you could have a Philly Cheesesteak Omelette: prime rib, peppers, onions, mushrooms and melted cheese, served with hash browns *and* bread. 890 calories without the bread.

This is breakfast food? These portions are larger than a huge evening meal. My mind really does boggle. I've been watching Man V Food recently, thinking it was all exaggerated for entertainment. Obviously, not so much!

I've seen many people eat one of those entrees for breakfast, perpetua. I could probably eat one of those entrees by myself, to be honest. I don't think that eating a breakfast that size every once in a while is a bad thing (and I'm not saying that you said that), as long as the person has an otherwise healthy, normal diet.

Also, IMO, it makes the most sense for me to eat my biggest meal at breakfast, because then I have the most time to burn off the calories.

Online money transfer between bank is done via cheque – In USA (at least in PA), whenever I want to transfer money to someone, the bank will issue a cheque and post it to the address of the cheque recipient. The recipient will then cash in the cheque. This procedure will take few days normally and applies even to customers who transfer money to another customers within the same bank.

Is this one true? That is NUTS!

That's not how it works for everyone. I can transfer money purely electronically through my bank. I've not had to wait for someone to receive a check for the amount I sent online. Chase definitely lets you send account to account payments.

My credit union will handle me making account-to-account transfers within their account structure, or to other credit unions' account structures. My previous bank would not. They may have changed since I closed my account with them.

The breakfasts in particular grabbed my attention. Do people really eat a 13oz T-bone steak plus eggs, hash browns and toast for breakfast?!

You are missing three things here:1. People don't eat out every day. 2. At breakfast time many people have already been up for hours. I work nights. I'm usually starving at breakfast time.3. Denny's is not what every American restaurant menu looks like.

Something like the T-bone is often called a farmer's or trucker's breakfast after two professions that are understoood to have already been up and working for a few hours before breakfast.

I suppose those dishes are like our 'Full English' breakfast, and they have a similar calorie level. I don't know anyone who eats a full English every day - it's a treat. Spent a few days in a B&B in the summer, and it's what you get for breakfast, traditionally. First couple of days were but by day three it was more

OH used to work night shifts a lot and go and have a breakfast out when he finished - that was really his dinner.

I'm surprised about the banks sending cheques through post if you want to do a transfer. That's bizarre these days, but a few of the respondents mentioned it, so it can't just be one backwards bank, can it?

I really can't wrap my head around the sheer scale and size of some other countries, including the US, I have to remind myself it's more like a continent than a country. Which isn't true either, but I have no hope of really grasping the size of the continent of North America.

A friend of mine has moved from UK to Seattle with her family - a bit of culture shock but on the whole she likes it, and it's much what she expected.